Bulldogs head to Rifle for duals

With three tournament titles in the bag the Warrior Classic, the Las Vegas tournament and the Dog Fight Dual Tournament the Moffat County High School (MCHS) varsity wrestling team wants to add one more to its collection Saturday at the Rifle tournament.

The Bulldogs will start the weekend on Friday with duals against the Montrose Indians and the Pueblo Centennial Bulldogs.

According to coach Roman Gutierrez, even with those string of victories the Bulldogs haven't reached their full potential.

"We haven't started to peak where we really need to be," said Gutierrez. "Our conditioning is getting to be where it needs to be. Our technique still needs improvement. I feel things are going as scheduled and we are getting experience every week."

The players haven't let up in practice after their recent successes.

"They are working hard, and they are kind of beat down," said Gutierrez. "We are not performing as well as we should be because of the practices that we put in. Our goal right now is to get them in the best shape as possible."

According to Gutierrez, MCHS has already seen Montrose and Pueblo Centennial at the Warrior Classic.

"Pueblo is one of the top teams in the state," said Gutierrez. "They have some good kids and they just have a good team. Montrose is a real youg team. They are about a year away from being competitive."

Some of the teams that will be at the Rifle tournament are Pueblo Centennial, Montrose, Steamboat Springs, Cortez, Delta, Fort Lupton and Grand Junction Central.

"The Rifle tournament should be pretty competitive," said Gutierrez. "There will be nine teams there and five of them are ranked in the top 10.

We should see tough competition again and that will help us improve."

During practice this week the Bulldogs are holding wrestle-offs for the final time this season. Wrestle-offs are where teammates go head-to-head to see who will be on the varsity team.

"This will be the last week of wrestle-offs," said Gutierrez. "Whoever you see this week you will see at the regional tournament. We are in pretty good shape. Of course, we have all the little injuries, but they are not keeping the kids out."